Reading Response 2

"The Stages Of The Tutorial", in my opinion, is by far the most important reading that I have read. When a student walks into the writing center, they expect to be helped and they will, but for the tutor, there are stages that they have to go through to do so.

In this section of the book, we learn about three different stages that the student and tutor go through during the time that they meet. These three stages are: The Pretextual Stage, The Textual Stage, and The Posttextual Stage. In the first stage, my job is to learn about the writer's background and to develop a relationship with them. What are their fears and concerns? Instead of making them dread the experience of working with a tutor, hopefully I will be very soft and warm and make them feel comfortable about opening up with me about their problem is. The second stage is working with them to overcome their weaknesses in writing, but also helping them to know their strengths and what they can develop more of in their writing. The third stage is really just letting them take over and see what they have learned and how they can use their new found knowledge on future work.

I have spent at least almost three weeks in the writing center. All I ever see in there is a "please fix it and give me an A" deal going on between the students and the tutors. I understand that the people who come to the writing center are in need of help, but I don't know if they are really getting any. Sure, they may leave with their papers fully corrected, but what about their next paper? Will they even come back to the writing center, or will they go on to make new mistakes?

I hope as a tutor to not only get to know the students and their problems in writing, but also to show them how I write and how I approach any kind of writing assignment that is given to me.